N803 setup suggestions needed

[yfei]

Hi all! I am a newbie to the 800 series. My current setup of N803 is: Benchmark DAC1 -> Monster Interlink Reference 2 / RadioShack Fusion / RadioShack Gold -> Earthquake CineNova Grande 3 -> MIT Terminator 4 biwiring cable -> 803.

The sound is a little too bright, and a little lack of mid range. I am not sure if this is the charactor of N803, or problems in my setup?
My previous setup is NAD C320BEE -> B&W 602 S3, also have bright high, but midrange is ok.
I use Sennheiser HD580 connected to Benchmark DAC1's headphone out as the reference sound.

Any suggestion will be appreciated!

[sikoniko]

perhaps its the rat shack cables?

[tedaudio]

N803

I have had matrix 802, n803 and currently have 803d. I found the n803 the most difficult to adjust the sound away from the characteristics you describe.
I also found it most pronounced on the n803 while playing at low volumes, there definitely seemed to be a volume setting where this got less pronounced. Do you tend to listen at lower volumes?

[RobP]

I have the same speakers, at first I found them a little bright, but after plying with some acoustic treatment and getting it placed correctly that all went away. How is your room treated?

[VictorHRS]

I have 803's and they sound as smooth as a Dynaudio 3.3 that I tested here, but with more extended and natural highs. I run Audioquest Coral ICs and AQ Slate for the speakers. The Corals are known for being warm sounding. I suggest you to try these, they were (maybe still are) in sale at hcmaudio...

[Djas_Puhr]

Hey yfei,

I have a pair of N803's hooked up through MIT Terminator 2 biwires, similar in sound to your Terminator 4's. I have experienced my N803's in many different rooms and have always been able to trace extreme brightness and/or midrange suckout to a matter of room placement. I would follow what Soundgravy is saying and look at your placement/treatment options to take care of the brightness/midrange problems. As far as the graininess is concerned, I don't think I've ever experienced that with the N803. Maybe look upstream and play the swap-out game to see if you can isolate the problem down to a single componenet/cable.

Enjoy!

[yfei]

Thanks guys!

After tried repositioning, the result is amazing!!!!
(My room: 11ft x 17ft)
Originally the speakers was 3 feet from side walls, now I moved them to 1 feet from side walls. The resonance bring up the bass and mids, and the harsh in the highs goes away. And what is more amazing is the sound stage. The sound stage became wider, turns from 6 feet wide into room wide. And added height. So it's 3D now. The depth? still not much depth in the center. But this maybe due to the Benchmark DAC1, which is recognized as very wide but thin in sound stage.
So the result is amazing, now the sound stage is similar I heard in the dealer's demo room.

[yfei]

by the way, my room actually is L shaped:


's' are the speakers. Any idea how to build a wall in the room to reflect the sound of left speaker, to make the sound stage more symmetric?
Currently I just pile up some fedex ups boxes as a wall.

[Joyce]

Hi,

Is there anyone who can help me setting the crossover for my BW 802 D, what is the best for the front center and back speakers.

Hope that anyone can help me,

Thanks, Jo